One of the guys in our riding group, Blane, had a little mechanical trouble that sidelined our riding plans this afternoon, but the cool thing about a bad situation was how quickly and willingly the other riders in the group offered their help.

Around 3 p.m. we were rolling in a group of four bikes, heading to meet a few other riders, when the oil light on Blane's new Versys suddenly began to glow. He immediately clutched the bike, turned the engine off and coasted into a parking lot just off the road. I saw him fall away in my rearview mirrors, and turned back. The rest of the group followed soon thereafter.

We couldn't figure out if it was the sending unit, sensor, or oil pump that was on the fritz, so we elected to not move the bike.

A few minutes later, we made some phone calls, and Carl and Marie soon showed up with their truck and HeavyBusRacing.com bike trailer. We loaded the Versys (which only has about 200 miles on it) and Carl was nice enough to take the bike to Blane's house.

About 45 minutes later, Blane met us at Starbucks on his other bike, a Bandit 1250, just as Rodger and Britt were showing up. We decided to go to Blane's house, load the Versys into Blane's truck, and take it to Rodger's house for a manual oil pressure check. Our buddy David even showed up to help.

We arrived at Rodger's house after having secured Blane's ailing Kawasaki into the back of his truck:



Rodger talks a little friendly smack about Kawasaki reliability as we prepare to unload the bike:



Brandon fiddles with the seat as Britt open's Rodger's gate in the background:



The problem is somewhere in here:



And yes, to state the obvious, the bike had plenty of oil in it. ;-)

We always have to take a moment and dig on Rodger's vintage stable. Feast your eyes on his awesome 1984 YZ490:



Anyhow, I'm sure Rodger will let us know his findings soon enough. I'm guessing it's a bad sensor.

The coolest thing about all this rigamarole is that it didn't seem like any trouble. Even though we were dealing with a problem, we were still having fun. We were working as a team and discussing the problem and its possible solutions. We were laughing and cutting up and having a great time despite it all. It felt good helping a friend and fellow rider. I guess that's a big part of what being a motorcyclist is all about, and I'm glad I was there to lend a hand.

P.S. Blane, if you read this, Rodger is the one who burned out in your driveway. (-=